Justice dies

Sigh.
I cant say as I liked the man, but you had to respect him. And now he's gone.
BushCorp has issued a statement expressing sadness at the death Saturday night of Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
He knew he was going to get to fill the chair anyway, so I suppose there's not too much elation on Pennsylvania St. tonight. Are y'all in America ready for a sea change in court decisions?
John Paul Stevens, Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy, David Hackett Souter, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer. Soon, most likely, John G. Roberts, jr. These people, plus whatever horror BushCo puts in charge of the court (all thinking beings must fear and reject a Scalia Court) will be the future Supreme Court of the United States of America.
These people (or more likely, five of these people, with Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg, and Breyer dissenting) will be making decisions that will change everything.
Soon the country will be humming to the tune of activist judges making decisions that will set the social achievements of this country back (assuming the continued power of the Neo-Cons for even another three years) to pre-Roosevelt days (I'm talking Franklin, but I fear Teddy).
Maybe I'll let someone from The Nation say it:

The truth is, there is hardly an area of life that will not be affected by the judicial appointments made in the coming years. Will the courts continue to dismantle your right to sue state governments in federal courts? By 5 to 4, the Supreme Court decided that federal protections against age discrimination don't apply to state workers. (More recently it upheld the Americans with Disabilities Act--insofar as it applied to the right of citizens not to have to crawl up the courthouse steps.) On the same states' rights theory, by 5 to 4 it threw out parts of the Violence Against Women Act. The Patriot Act? Immigrants' rights? The environment? Ballot issues, à la Florida? Whom do you want in charge of choosing the men and women who will decide the big questions sure to arise? (from the Nation, October 25, 2004)
(that last line refers to the then-upcoming Presidential election. We all know how that turned out, dont we)

If this doesnt keep you awake at night, then consider this: the man who is about to choose two Supreme Court judges, one of whom will be the leader of that court, is a man who thinks Intelligent Design should be taught in schools! I find myself missing Dan Quayle.
And he's got three more years. THREE MORE YEARS!!!

That's enough for now, I'm too filled with despair to go on.